Mae Paner and her recipe for a compassionate Christmas

From the stage to the streets, theater actor and activist Mae Paner aka Juana Change has conquered the kitchen, too.

This holiday season, she talks about helping through her Kawa Pilipinas feeding program that not only feeds the body, but nourishes the soul.

What’s in the Kawa?

Surrounded by the hustle and bustle of young volunteers coupled with the aroma of home-cooked tinolang manok stood Paner in as the group’s leader since it was founded in 2020.

“I wish we can [help] more, but sa ngayon we cook once a week… A meal in one cooking day… Kahit ang mahal ng bilihin, sinisikap pa rin natin na ang laman ng bawat food pack ay nakakabusog at may sustansya,” she shared.

(I wish we could [help] more, but as of now we cook once a week… A meal in one cooking day… Even if the ingredients are expensive, we still strive to ensure that the contents of a food pack are filling and nutritious.)

Inside her kitchen, a count of more than 350,000 servings of various dishes made since the group was founded was posted on the wall.

“Dati nagluluto lang tayo nag umpisa [ng] 200 [dishes], pero ngayon ang record natin ay [more than] 3,600 in one cooking day. A meal in one cooking day,” she added.

(We used to only cook around 200 [dishes when we started], but now our record is more than 3,600 in one cooking day. A meal in one cooking day.)

Paner said she promotes and shares connection to those in need with the goal of solving food insecurity and malnutrition.

However, she revealed that her long-term goal was for her own organization to cease to exist.

“In an ideal world, walang Kawa Pilipinas, (there is no Kawa Pilipinas.)” she stated.

“Hindi ba narerealize natin na kahit di mo kakilala konektado ka? (Aren’t we realizing that even if you don’t know the person, you are connected to them?) And the more we realize that, the better it is for a society like ours… Hunger is a heart problem, and if you have a heart, you can really help solve the problem,” Paner added.

With over 60 current volunteers, Paner continues to operate from her small kitchen to extend little joys to persons deprived of liberty, the elderly, and those in poverty—embodying the spirit of the Filipino in her own special way.

Pagmamalasakit

Paner defines the word “pagmamalasakit” as the ability to put yourself into the shoes of the vulnerable.

“Yung pagmamalasakit is yung kahit sino makita mo, nakikita mo ang sarili mo. Ikaw ay ako, ikaw ay ang aking kapwa. Hindi yung ako para sa sarili ko,” she said.

(Pagmamalasakit is when you see yourself in whoever it is you see. You are me, and you are my community. Not just me for myself.)

“I think that is really pagmamalasakit. To realize that you are the other person, and that you are connected to him or her and that all others are connected to them,” Paner added.

To her, the act of extending yourself to see someone help, give, eat, and smile was the perfect definition of what it means to be “mapagmalasakit.”

“Kung maaaring di mo kaya magpakain ng 100 [na tao], baka kaya niyo magpakain ng sampu o isa. Makapagpakain ka lang ng isa, malaking bagay na ’yun. Lahat tayo may kakayahan, lahat tayo ay may kayang ibigay at lahat tayo mayroong galing at maishe-share mo yun kung ano man yun, whether konting cash or in kind,” she urged.

(You may not be able to feed 100 [people], but maybe you can feed ten or one. It’s already a big deal for you to feed one person. All of us have the ability, have something that we can give. All of us have skills that we can share, or whether it is some cash or in kind.)—LDF, GMA Integrated News